Shiites protest demolition of Muslim graveyard in Medina

Hyderabad: Members of the Shiite community on Wednesday protested against the demolition of Jannat-ul-Baqi, a Muslim cemetary in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 1926.

At a protest procession which began at Bibi Ka Alawa in Dabeerpura culminated at Shabeeh-e-Jannat-ul-Baqi. The peaceful protestors carried banners which read "Baqi the cry of secularism", "Prophet's Daughter Oppressed" and "Baqi Our Right". Agha Alamdar Hussain, president of the Hussaini Organisation, said "The Wahabi Saud family of Saudi Arabia destroyed this cemetery and razed it the ground in the year 1926. This happened despite protests by the international Islamic community. Since then, all over the world, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims have been carrying out protest marches and processions urging the ruling Saud Dynasty of Saudi Arabia to allow reconstruction of this holy place but all such requests have never been paid heed to by this extremist dynasty."